H.I.

Back in my elementary and high school days, the term H. I. is always heard on the campus. Why? Because my school is also a school for the Hearing Impaired, these students may either be deaf-mutes or just suffering from hearing loss. I may be a little deaf but I don't belong to the hearing impaired sequence, fyi.

By the way, I studied in Davao City Special School (SPED), as it was called back then. It is home to both regular students and students with learning disabilities, like the hearing impaired as I have mentioned.

One day, at school, there was a program specially attended by the H. I. students. I was intrigued by that specially since that they don't usually hold programs like that since these students cannot hear. I later found out that there has been some grant given to the H. I. students: Lingkod Bayan (spearheaded by Mel Tiangco) gave the H. I. students with hearing aids. It was such a big help for them specially since SPED is a public school and most students enrolled there (specially those with learning disabilities) could not afford to buy hearing aids.

Before, hearing aids were bulky, unlike the new and improved models out in the market today. Today, we have "invisible" hearing aid models. One particular provider of hearing aids which is based in the United States, Miracle Ear, offers free hearing test. There is also a bunch of information which can help you make a self-evaluation of whether you are experiencing hearing loss and the things you need to do about it.